We met Susan and Dick almost 25 years ago. They were some of the first people we met and skied with when we arrived at Sugarbush. They still spend winters in Vermont and we still get to ski and hang with them. About 4 years ago, they purchased Susan’s family home and they now spend their summers in Islesboro, ME.
Islesboro is the name of both the town where they live and the island in Penobscot Bay on which it is located. The island is about 14 miles long north-to-south and it is quite narrow. It has a figute-8-ish shape, with the ‘narrows’ in the center usually being wide enough for two cars to pass each other at high tide. The year-round population is about 600, with a swell of summer and part-time residents. The island is all one town – Islesboro – with a few distinct areas and neighborhoods.
Living on an island is kinda cool. It’s isolated, private, secure, and there’s a good sense of community. At the same time, you’ve got to be self-reliant (the ambulance is a helicopter sent over from the mainland), organized (the grocery and all other stores are off-island), and pro-active (there are only so many ferries each day, and they don’t run at night). Essentially all errands revolve around the ferry schedule. For example, going out to dinner is generally an overnight trip – there are no restaurants on island and the last ferry back to the island is at 5pm. A quick trip to the hardware store and back isn’t really a thing.
Although we had grand plans for kayaking and hiking, the universe said not so fast. It rained off and on for (mostly on, and often pretty hard) for our two-and-a-half day stay. Ha! That didn’t stop us.
Much of our time was spent getting caught up with our friends and talking about life on the island in their cozy living room overlooking West Penobscot Bay. We loved hearing about all they’ve done so far and what remains for renovating and modernizing their home, creating new gardens and managing the woodlands. And they seem to be adjusting well to the pace of life on an island. We went for a long walk along the beach during one of the breaks in the rain.
Susan and Dick honored and delighted us with a dinner of fresh-caught, local lobsters, which we all went to pick up from the dock where the lobster guys were bringing in their catch. This dock is right around the corner from the house, but our guides used a scenic route to get there. The route took us on a beautiful ride to the southernmost point of Islesboro, passing conveniently by the island’s best (and only…) ice cream shop. (It turns out ice cream before dinner doesn’t actually spoil your appetite. Who knew?) Back at the house, we enjoyed the ritual of setting up the lobster pot on an outdoor burner and boiling the marine crustaceans to a bright red. Then we savored a long, slow dinner, each of us diligently taking apart our lobster with an array of nutcrackers, shears, and probes. After dinner, in accordance with a traditional house rule, we each were responsible for disassembling another lobster, for there would be lobster rolls in our future. Mmm!
As the rain persisted, Susan and I decided to grab raincoats and umbrellas and brave some of the further-back roads off the back roads on the island (there aren’t really any main roads) despite the dampness. Back at the house, lobster rolls and salads awaited us. We were thrilled when Dick suggested we could all accompany him to the dump, since it was at the north end of the island and we’d get to see more. Yay!
As we headed back to the mainland the next morning, our visit was extended a bit because Susan and Dick were also heading off-island on the same ferry. We got in some more chatting as we waited in line, a little more on the ferry, then we headed on our separate ways.
Dick and Susan, thanks so much for this visit! Hope to catch you in July in the Valley, and we’ll definitely see you during ski season…
For anyone who’s interested, more Islesboro and ferry pix…
